Type-head shifting and locking mechanism.



'H. A. FOOT'HORAP.

TYPE HEAD SHIFTING AND LOCKING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED FEES, 1911.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

2 SHEBTSSHEET 1.

WITNESSES H. A. FOOTHORAP, TYPE HEAD SHIFTING AND LOCKING MECHANISM.

APPLIOATION FILED FEILG, 1911.

Patented Dec. 1,1914.

2 BHEBTSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES 0F HARRISBURG, ll'SYLVANL-l,

iiii iilhi i'fiii All.

mor

essienon re ELLIoM- TYPEJIEAID SHILLFEING AND LDCKING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Eecent.

Patented nee. i, win.

Application filed February (5, 1:911 Serial No. 6043.935.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. Foornormr, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at lilarrisburg, in the county of Dauphin and Stateof: Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inType-Head Shiitin and Locking lliechanism, of which the Following is aspecification. 4

My present invention relates to typewritingr machines, and moreparticularly tothat class oi such machines vhich are characterized bywhat are known as plural .tvpeheads mounted on the type bars anddesigned to be automatically shifted to present either an upper or lowercase character in the printing position.

he primary object of the invention is to provide an improved mountingfor the head and improved means for locking the head in normal or lowercase position and for releasing the head and shifting the some to uppercase position during the printing operation. 1

To this end the invention contemplates the equipment each type bar withn shiftahle plural type heath a loclnng member which retains the headrigidly in normal p0 sition. and 2'. head releasing and shifting devicewhich when brorfht into COZitilCilWitll a relatively fixed part ortripper during the printing stroke of the bar will move the lockingelement to release the head and shift the position.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure i is a SQCblOYlill view of so muchof a typewriting machine is necessary to properly disclose a ty tie barequipped in accordance with my invention several positions of the liarbeing indicn'ted in dotted lines. 9. is a side elevation on a somewhatenlarged. scale of the type bar disposed in normal position andindicating; in dotted lines the positions assumed by the bar and headwhen the bar carrying: a shifted head has nearly reached its iullyretracted position. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the relation of thepin-ts when the head shifting device or trigger comes into contact withthe trip during released head to the uppe case the stroke of the typebar. Fig. 4 is a side view SllOWllg the relation of parts when the barprogressed suihciently beyond the position shown in Fig. 3 to cause thearrestmounted to rotate on a headed stud when ed trigger to release thehead the shifting thereof; Fig. view of this character showing thepositions ussuu'ied by the parts when the bar has progressedsuliiciently to ca use complete shifting of the head from upper to lowercase position the position assumed by the triegrer or head shiftingdevice under the impulse of the spring after said device has cleared thetrip being indicated in dotted lines. 6 is a detail sectional Viewshowin the mounting of the head at the upier out of the type arm. Figv 7is a perspective view of the upper end of the type bar showing the head,the head locking spring, and the combined head shifting: and releasingdevice innornial ii; position. and Fig. 8 is a detail view 01 trip andits operating key.

1 indicates the frame of a. typewriter mounted. to travel over the fiatplaten 2 and equipped with downwardly acting printing mechanism havingthe form of swinging t 'pe ham 3 suitably mounted in hearings in thecarriage 5. The type bars are-open :ited by keys 6 carried by key levers'l" for cruined as for instance at 8 and having de pending iii-met)connected by drawwires it and 11 and suhlevers 12 with the type bars.Above the heariiiggs 4 is mounted booking or buffer 13 which limits thebackward or retraetile movement of the e bars undo: the impulse oiretracting springs 14 connected at their upper ends to the buffer and attheir lower 'is to the type hols.

At the ripper end of each type barfi is mounted What is known as aplurziht-ype head 15 carrying upper and lower-ease type" 16 and 1?, thelatter or lower case type he inc; normally disposed in the printingpositiorn as shown in Fig. The head 15 is reparatory to a is stillanother ing a reduced portion 1 fi'passed through and. rigidly securedin the upper end of the her The upper end of the he! 3 is cut away orhalved on one side to accommodate the head which thus lies flush withone side of the bar and has a curved hearing face 20 opposed to :1hearing face or shoulder 21 of similar curvature formed by the halvingof the ear. The side face of the ty'pe head is countersunk toaccommodate the head 18 of the stud 18 and attention is directed to thefact that the head is afforded hearings on both the stud 18 and head 18which constitute journals of comparatively great dianr eter and serve,in COI'qllIlCtlOIl with the hear ing faces and 21, to insure an absoluteefioctive mounting for the head.

At opposite ends oi the bearing face 20, which is of course concentricwith the axis of the head, said head is formed with a pair of stop faces22 and which engage oppo-.

bar and limit the rohead in opposite d1- may be and preferably is in theform of a leasing and shifting device fiat spring having its upper endbowed back from the bar 3 and provided with an angular end 27 normallylying under and in obstructing relation to the locking face 25 of thetail. The locking member or spring 26 extends along the rear edge of thebar 3 and has its lower end bent at an angle to form a retaining lug 28engaging a notch 29 out in the rear edge of the bar. Intermediate of itsends the spring 26 is formed with integral clips 30 and 31 which embracethe bar and securely but detachably retain the 'sprin 26 thereon.

Pivotally mounted in the bifurcated tail 24: as by a pintle 32 is what Iterm the combined head releasing and shifting device 33. This device isin the form of a flat metal plate provided in rear of its pivot with areleasing cam 34, below its pivot with a stop lug 35 and above the axisof the type bar with a tripping arm or front edge of the arm 36 posedradially with respect to the axis of the type head and at its inner endnormally abuts against the bottom wall of the tail. bifurcation, asindicated at 37 which also coacts with the stop 35 after limitedmovement of the device 33 on its own axis. The releasing cam 39% of theshifting and releasing device 33 normally lies above the look 'ing face25 of the tail 24, but when the releasing member 33 is swung relative tothe type head, said cam coacts with the upper end of the locking spring26 and moves the latter rearwardly out of engagement with the lockingface 25 of the tail 24. WVhen this disengagement has been effected, therear end of the cam 34 will be opposed to the vertically disposedportion of the spring 35 and the step 35 will engage the abutment 37 toprevent further independent rearward movement of the device 33. The headre- 33 and the head is normally dis- In other words, the shoulders 22'trigger 36. The

will now be connected and become in effect a single structure which willswing to shift the head from lower to upper case position, where thehead is arrested by the engagement of the stop face 20 at the rear sideof the type bar.

The foregoing description will be fully understood by referenceto Figs.2, 3, 41 and 5 of the drawings. For convenience of description themovement has been. considered as though the bar 8 were standing stilland the device 33 swung rearwardly to first release and then shift thehead. So far as the relative movements and positions of the type bar andthe parts carried thereby are concerned, this assumption is entirelycorrect, but as a matter of fact, the initial swinging of the member 33to releasethe head and the subsequent shifting of the head is eilectednot by the rearward swinging of the member 33, but by the arresting ofsaid member temporarily during the downward movementof the type bar. Forinstance, in the full lines of Fig. 2 the normal position of the typebar and head are shown. After the type bar has progressed for somethingless than one-half of its stroke. the arm or trigger 36 of the devicecomes into contact with a relatively fixed trip 38 which has beendepressed by the manipulation of a shift key 39 and intermediateconnections 40 into obstructing relation to the trigger. As the barcontinues its downward movement, as shown in Fig. e, the temporaryarrest or retardation of the trigger 33 will cause that relativemovement of the releasing cam 34: and locking member 26 which isnecessary before the shifting of the type head on the bar can commence.The head being released from the locking member, and the trigger havingreached the limit of its movement relative to the head, the continued 7downward movement of the bar and the continued retardation of thetrigger will cause the head to be shifted from lower case to upper caseposition, as indicated. in Fig. 5, and when the trigger has cleared thetrip 38 it will be thrown back, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5,to itsnormal position relative to thehead. In this shifted position ofthe head, however, ,the trigger 36, instead of extending in line withthe bar as it does in normal position, will be disposed at an obtuseangle with respect to the bar and will project rearwardly. When the barreturns, after having eil'ected the printing of an upper case character,the trip 38 will have been elevated out of the path of the the head willtherefore stay in trigger and its shifted or upper case position untiljust 126 before the bar reaches the position of rest. The upper endofthe trigger or "head shifting device will engage the bufier .13. Asfurther rearward movement of the upper end of the trigger is nowprevented by the buffer 13, the final portion of the retractile movementof the bar will effect the reshifting of the type head 15 to normalposition, upon reaching which the locking member 26 Will snap under thelocking face 25 of the head and automatically lock the same in 'itsnormal or lower case position.

Attention is now directed to the fact that the spring 26 not onlyconstitutes a locking member for the head, but that it also insures thecomplete shifting of the head, since it will be evident that as soon asthe tail piece 3% of the head moves below the upper end of the spring26, the latter will exert pressure on said tail piece in a plane belowthe axis of the head, the spring pres sure being sufficiently great toswing the head and thus complete the shifting movement thereof in theevent that the trip 38 is released and tion with the arm 36 of the headshifting device 33 before the head has been completely shifted.

It is thought that from the foregoing, the construction and operation ofthe type head and head shifting and locking mechanism constituting myinvention will be clearly understood, but I Wish to reserve the righttoeffect such modifications of the illustrated structure as may comefairly Within. the scope of the protection prays What I claim is 1. Thecombination with a type bar and a plural type head thereon, of a lockingmember coacting with the head, and-a head releasing and shifting devicecarried by the head and coacting with the locking member.

2. The combination with a type bar and a plural type head shiftablymounted on the bar, of a locking member carried by the bar and engagingthe head to lock the same in one position, and a head releasing andshifting device pivotally mounted on the head and coacting with thelocking member.

3. The combination with a type bar, of a plural type head pivotallymounted at the outer end thereof and having atail piece, a lockingmember carried by the type bar and movable into and out of engagementWith the tail piece of. the head, and a head shifting and locking devicepivotally mounted on the head and having a releasing cam movable toshift the locking member to its releasing position.

4;. The combination with a. type bar and type head pivotally mounted atthe outer allowed to rise out of coac &

end thereof, of a locking spring carried by the type bar and engagingthe head, and a head releasing and shifting device mounted on the headand having limited movement relative to the head to cifect the releaseof the same from the locking spring.

The combination with a plural type head, of a locking spring engagingthe head and locking the same against movement in the direction of itsshift and operative to complete the shifting of the head. and means forreleasing the head from the locking spring and for imparting initialmovement to the head to bring the head and spring in such coactiverelation as will enable the spring to complete the shifting movement 6.The combination with a type bar, of a plural type head pivotally mountedthereon and having stops coacting with the bar to limit the movement ofthe head and also having a tail piece extended rearvvardly from saidhead, and a locking spring carried by the bar and engaging the tailpiece of the head, and a combined head shifting and locking devicepivoted on the tail piece, said shifting and locking device having a releasing cam coacting with the locking spring, an arm extending beyondthe head for coaction with a trip, and stop portions which coact withthe head to limit the independent movement of the releasing and-shifting device thereon.

7. The combination with a plural type head, of a locking member engagingthe head to positively retain the same against movement in onedirection, and a releasing device movably mounted on the head andoperative to move the locking member to release the head, the releasingdevice and head being movable together after the release of the latter.

8. The combination with a type bar having its upper end halved andformed with two arcuate bearing surfaces, of a headed stud carried bythe halved portion of the bar, and a plural type head journaled on thestud and having internal and external arcuate bearing faces opposed tothe respective bearing faces of the bar.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

to shift the head

